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At the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, where the Gulf of Aqaba meets the Gulf of Suez, Sharm El Sheikh occupies one of the most geographically dramatic positions of any resort city on earth. The mountains of the Sinai interior rise sharply behind it, their ochre and rose-coloured ridges catching the light at dusk in ways that stop conversation. In front, the Red Sea stretches out in shades of blue and turquoise that owe their clarity to the near-total absence of river sediment and the exceptional visibility that draws divers from across the world.

The city itself is largely a creation of the late twentieth century, developed from a small fishing settlement into an international resort destination. Its two main centres, Naama Bay and the Old Market area of Hadaba, have distinct characters. Naama Bay is the more polished of the two, its promenade lined with hotels and restaurants facing the water, while the Old Market district offers a denser, more local atmosphere with its covered lanes and the persistent scent of spices and shisha. Neither is ancient in the way that Cairo or Luxor are ancient, but that is rather the point: Sharm El Sheikh is a place people come to for the sea, and the sea here is genuinely extraordinary.